Members of the Philippine Coast Guard carry a rubber boat next to a helicopter as they prepare to deploy to Northern Luzon ready for the arrival of Typhoon Lupit (locally named "Ramil"). (Photo by NOEL CELIS/AFP)

MANILA, October 20, 2009 (AFP) - Hundreds of rescuers and tons of emergency supplies were put in place across the northern Philippines on Tuesday as Typhoon Lupit (locally named "Ramil") threatened to dump more deadly rains on the storm-ravaged region.

Preparations were also being made to evacuate residents from areas in the direct path of Lupit, which was packing gusts of up to 230 kilometers (142 miles) an hour and expected to make landfall on Thursday, authorities said.

Lupit was set to be the third major storm in less than a month to pound Luzon island, and many areas remain extremely vulnerable to further bad weather with dams already overflowing and soaked soil unable to absorb more rain.

Tropical storms Ketsana (locally named "Ondoy") and Parma (locally named "Pepeng") claimed nearly 1,000 lives in the nation's capital, Manila, and other areas of Luzon.

Bonifacio Cuarteros, the civil defence chief in Cagayan province, where Lupit was expected to cause most damage, said rescue teams and dozens of trucks capable of passing through floods had been deployed along the northeast coast.

Deploying the roughly 500 rescue personnel in advance would make it easier for them to bring people out of danger if the weather turned for the worse, he added.

The national government had also placed rescue teams on standby and placed relief goods in Cagayan and neighbouring regions, authorities said.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council said 90 tonnes of food and other relief items had been trucked to northern Luzon, while 44 tonnes were being flown to the sparsely populated Batan island group further to the north.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said Lupit was creating a broad front of 440 kilometers and could potentially cause bad weather across all of the upper half of Luzon that is still recovering from the previous two storms.

Ketsana pounded Manila and areas neighbouring the capital with the heaviest rains in more than four decades on September 26, killing 420 people.

The health department said another 106 people died from ensuing disease outbreaks.

Typhoon Parma struck a week later and hovered over northern Luzon as a tropical storm for days, triggering landslides that killed 438.